British spy agency GCHQ has hit back at claims it tapped Donald Trump's phones during the US presidential campaign.
In an unusual move for the organisation, which usually keeps silent on matters of intelligence, a GCHQ spokesman branded the allegations of wiretapping “nonsense”.
Mr Trump claimed his home in New York, Trump Tower, had been spied on with wire taps planted on behalf of former president Barack Obama in the run-up to the election.
Spokesman Mr Spicer pointed to comments made on Fox News by former judge Andrew Napolitano that former US leader Mr Obama used GCHQ to install the hacking technology.
But in a rare statement, a spokesman for the British agency said: "Recent allegations made by media commentator Judge Andrew Napolitano about GCHQ being asked to conduct 'wiretapping' against the then president elect are nonsense.
He added: “They are utterly ridiculous and should be ignored."
Mr Spicer quoted Mr Napolitano, who initially made the GCHQ allegations, saying: “Three intelligence sources have informed Fox News that President Obama went outside the chain of command.
"He didn't use the NSA, he didn't use the CIA, he didn't use the FBI and he didn't use the Department of Justice, he used GCHQ."
GCHQ - the Government Communications Headquarters - works alongside MI5 and MI6 and focuses on defending the country against cyber threats. It usually refuses to respond on intelligence matters.
When US whistleblower Edward Snowden - a former NSA analyst - claimed the agency had the power to turn people's mobile phones off and on and switch on the handset microphone to listen to what is happening around them, GCHQ kept quiet.
In BBC Panorama interview two years ago, Snowden said that GCHQ allows agents to track a subject's movements with greater than usual accuracy.
A spokeswoman said at the time: "It is long-standing policy that we do not comment on intelligence matters."
GCHQ has become less secretive in recent years with recruitment adverts on pavements and the publication of a puzzle book.
